This accessibility statement applies to the NHS website for North Bristol NHS Trust, www.nbt.nhs.uk. 

This website is run by North Bristol NHS Trust. We want as many people as possible to be able to use the website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• Use your web browser to change colours, contrast levels and fonts.
• Zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen.
• Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard.
• Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software.
• Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS (Job Access With Speech), NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) and VoiceOver.
• Access the website using a mobile or tablet.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know from our most recent accessibility audit that some parts/contents of this website are not fully accessible.

• Some PDF documents are not fully accessible.
• Some live video streams and videos do not have captions/subtitles.
• Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard.
• Some images do not have text alternatives.

Feedback and contact information

If you have an accessibility query including:

• If you have any problems accessing information or using this website
• If you have any positive feedback about this website's accessibility

Please contact NBTCommunications@nbt.nhs.uk. We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact NBTCommunications@nbt.nhs.uk with details of the problem you have encountered.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We want to ensure we can communicate effectively and provide you with information you can understand.

We can arrange for in-person support such as British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters or volunteer sighted guides.

Where possible, we can ensure communication support such as audio induction loops, quiet waiting spaces, longer appointment times etc. We can also provide information in different formats such as Easy Read and we can contact you in your preferred way, for example by phone, email, or letter.

You can contact us via a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter using Sign Live, or please phone or email the contact details on your appointment letter.

Find out how to contact us.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

North Bristol NHS Trust is committed to making this website (www.nbt.nhs.uk) accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services and/or we have a legal and statutory obligation and legitimate business need to publish them. Examples include:

• Statutory and mandatory reports, including third party reports e.g. Auditors Report.
• Trust Board Papers and Integrated Performance Reports.
• Information specifically for clinicians e.g. care pathways and referral criteria.
• The structure of the content is not always available to assistive technology, which makes the content difficult to understand and navigate for users of screen readers (WCAG 2.1 success criterion Info and relationships 1.3.1).
• The reading order of the content is not always logical, which means some content does not make sense when read out by text-to-speech software (WCAG 2.1 success criterion Meaningful sequence 1.3.2).
• Images do not always have text alternatives, which means some content is not available when using text-to-speech software (WCAG 2.1 success criterion Text alternatives 1.1.1).

We are actively working to address accessibility issues and plan to either fix these or, where possible, replace them with accessible HTML pages.

Video content

Some of our videos do not meet accessibility standards because they do not have captions.
We are actively working to add captions/subtitles starting with the most popular videos published after 23 September 2020.

• Videos do not have transcripts or captions (WCAG 2.1 success criterion Audio-only and Video-only (Pre-recorded) 1.2.1, 1.2.2 and 1.2.3).

Images

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. We are in the process of adding text alternatives for all images. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

• Text alternatives (WCAG 2.1 success criterion Text alternatives 1.1.1).

Other parts of the website that are not fully accessible

These include:

• Links to third party websites or software that we do not own or manage therefore cannot guarantee their accessibility, however, we are actively working with relevant partners to address these issues.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

• Documents e.g. PDFs, published before 23 September 2018 that are not essential to providing our services.
• Captions on videos published before 23 September 2020.
• Site maps, however essential information i.e. address, has been provided.

If there is a specific document that you would like to request in an HTML format, we will do our best to oblige where possible and practicable. Please contact NBTCommunications@nbt.nhs.uk.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are making sure that the accessibility issues highlighted in our recent audit and outlined in this statement are being prioritised and fixed. Measures include:

• Reviewing content for plain English.
• Updating all PDFs to be accessible using Acrobat Pro accessibility checker.
• There are a number of PDFs that do not meet accessibility guidelines. Consequently, as part of our work to improve the accessibility of this website, we are reviewing our use of PDFs.
• Adopt a principle to move away, where possible, from new content being produced in PDF format.
• Plans to remove or replace all older PDFs with more accessible content.
• Adding captions to videos published after 23 September 2020.
• Ongoing improvement to the design/usability of the website focusing on accessibility.
• Prioritising accessibility remedial work in all new development and improvement projects.
• Working with third party suppliers and partners to improve the accessibility of their products.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 24 August 2020. It was last reviewed on 24 July 2023. It was last updated 4 August 2023. 

This website was last tested in July 2023 and testing is ongoing. The test was carried out using Silktide, with support from Redder LTD and NBT Communications.